A technological love story. A never ending series of tragedy and ecstasy in software, hardware and relationships comparing apples to oranges on a routinely basis. (Or just: notes on how to get stuff done haphazardly composed just for fun.)

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Right now smartphone-armed guerrillas battle from street to street in Copenhagen. Google made them do it.
It has been dark for a few hours. The temperature is falling to minus
ten degrees, just as the forecast promised, and there is plenty “fresh
wind from the east and northeast” this January evening in Denmark. A
small group of men are standing on Langelinje harbor in
Copenhagen all staring at their smartphones. They can already feel the
cold in their toes and fingertips, but they remain in the area for
several hours. For they are on the warpath.
“You think it's a game. But it is not.” So warns a female voice at
first run of the Android application called Ingress. Maybe there's some
truth to that. Is Google subsidiary Niantic Labs' new, mysterious,
worldwide game created to entice users themselves to collect even more
data for Google?
In Ingress two competing factions color the world map green or blue.
This is done by physically visiting local area landmarks and special
buildings, in the game called portals, and conquer them through the app.
So, if there has been a little silent in online games like 'World of
Warcraft' at the latest, it may be because many of the players has risen
from the cushioned chairs and now are all biking around between all
sorts of sights while waging a virtual war – and sending photos and
location data to Google.

The frogs against the smurfs

During the day, the Copenhagen Ingress street fighters Ttgeek and
gnomen work as a web developer and a child educator respectively. A few
weeks ago they did not know each other. Both were inspired to apply for
access to the game after watching a YouTube video. In it a physics
project goes horribly wrong and mysterious energy - called Exotic Matter
- has been blown out across the surface of the earth.
Team Enlightened is trying to expose the public to as much radiation
as possible by coloring the map in green. Ttgeek and gnomen was among
the first who joined the team Resistance who defend humanity by coloring
in blue. The two teams have nicknamed each other “frogs” and “smurfs”.
“The video poses questions. You don't know what the game is when you
see it, but it's something with GPS, a “capture the flag” thing. And
it's a spiced up geocaching thing,” says Ttgeek with reference to the better known and more peaceful way to go on a treasure hunt with GPS equipment.
Ttgeek have reached level 8, which is still the highest that can be
achieved as a player, or “agent”. But with great fervor he helps other
Resistance fighters to obtain higher ranks and keep Copenhagen blue.
This evening among others Agent gnome has appeared on the agreed venue.
“I think the movie looked really good. They have put a lot of energy
in the history. And then I needed to get out, I have lost several
pounds. People ask why I bother. But before I sat and played 'World of
Warcraft' for twelve hours straight. And smoke cigarettes,” laughs
gnomen.

Skirmish near the Royal Palace

The Little Mermaid on Langelinje,Copenhagen, Denmark.Here as a level 4 Resistance portal.

The troops have assembled, the equipment is in order, let there be gaming.
Ttgeek have a Motorola tablet with large battery and gnomen have a HTC
with small screen and thus low power consumption. Both can mount their
Android weapons to the handlebar of their bikes in waterproof casings.
The two leads the charge against the evening's target. Without
getting off their bikes eagerly hacking the portals that the flock
passes. Like this, they will be able to continue for more than six
hours. Google could hardly have designed Street View bikes better
themselves.
Tonight the Resistance attacks the many statues of Langelinje, held by the Enlightened. By Gefionspringvandet,
a fountain at one end of the harbor, Ttgeek gives instructions: He goes
first to bomb portals into a weak state. Then the lower ranking
teammates reap points by conquering and rebuilding the portals.
But it's not as easy as it sounds because the frog portals shoot
back. The little smurfs are repeatedly drained of energy and must
commute to the Amalienborg palace square, where many blue portals
are spewing out so much Exotic Matter that one trip around the
equestrian statue of King Frederik V is more than enough for a full
recharge.
“Come bomb the Little Mermaid,” writes invulnerable Ttgeek
impatiently while his foot soldiers are cycling a second round among the
guardsmen on the palace square. Hopefully the communication channel of
Ingress isn't one listened in on by the police intelligence service.

Melee on the memorial column

Suddenly, the otherwise bombed-out memorial column for Ivar Huitfeldt
turns green again on the Android screens. Ttgeek rapidly returns.
Immediately he recognizes a white car that he knows belongs to a member
of the Enlightened. The frogs have noticed one of their territories is
being taken over by keeping an eye on the Ingress intel website, and one
member has rushed to defend it.
But after a short time the car disappears. Tgeek is too strong.
“Close combat is the most fun. The first four days that I played, it
was all on my own. I walked around two o'clock at night in complete
darkness with headset on and heard the eerie sounds from the app,”
laughs gnomen.
“I like getting more about, experiencing the city, and Ingress has
helped. I also think it's a fun collaboration, dealing with strangers,”
adds Ttgeek.
But the game can get out of hand sometimes, says gnomen:
“Yesterday, when I went to bed, I saw that my portal outside the
front door was about to be taken over. So I went over and took it back.
Afterwards I went somewhere else. And it ended with a walk on a total of
three hours as I recaptured all that they had taken. And when I got up
next morning, they had taken over everything once again.”
To get started, visit the official websites:

The above report is from late January 2013. It was originally published in Danish. and is now cross-posted to Newsvine.
Since then both gnomen, the reporter and several other Copenhageners
have reached level 8. As a consequence the game has changed. But it has
also changed because many more portals have been added to the map and
because Niantic Labs have let gameplay evolve from user suggestions.
A couple of practical considerations that may have seem obscure and
geeky are common knowledge to the hard core Ingress agent. For example:

GPS is tricky. Ingress is using a routine less stressful to the
phone and/or servers than regular navigation apps so you will see your
position fly about on the scanner. And moving just on the northern side
of a massive structure, you can hide entirely from the satellites to
freeze your position. Usually just incredibly annoying.

3G uses a lot of battery. If more than one agent operate together,
just one device should communicate with servers and share a local
network. Then the other agents should turn off 3G and log onto the
shared network using wi-fi.

Even when properly protected in waterproof bags, devices will not
immediately recharge after ten hours out in the rain. Has something to
do with the moisture.

Using a bit of wire you can make your own external phone battery from a scooter battery carried in a shoulder bag.

About Me

I hold an M.Sc. degree in horticulture (thesis on bioinformatics) from Copenhagen University and a Diploma of Specialized Journalism from Danish School of Media and Journalism. Info-tech biologist writer. Science fiction, fantasy, popular science and comic books reader. FC Copenhagen season ticket holder. Sports analysis visualizer. Cyclist and Linux user. Author of Ecowar - Natural Resources and Conflict.